Chris O'Donoghue author: November 2018

Friday, 23 November 2018

TWILIGHT BEACH

I don't usually blog so frequently but after returning from the beach this evening I just had to share my thoughts and pictures. I love it at this time of year when I'm often the only person there. And especially when the tide is out. Aggie and I head out as far as we can - hoping to dodge the mud holes then walk along the tideline. And what is even better is when it's twilight.

The birds are shadowy but vocal: Curlews, Oystercatchers, Turnstones. Dunlin and Little Ringed Plovers. Tonight, they were joined by a pair of Herons, which was rather special.

Aggie loves it too - the large areas of flat sand allow her to run at full tilt, which means she gets plenty of exercise. I just love it there and feel so privileged to have such a wonderful place close by.

Thursday, 22 November 2018

CITROEN DS - the 1955 Motor show sensation

CITROEN DS

the 1955 Motor show sensation

At the London Motor Show in 1955 there was the new 2.4 litre compact saloon from Jaguar, the latest MGA sports car and Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, plus a Sunbeam Rapier coupé with whitewall tyres. But the star of the show had to be the vehicle innocuously billed as the ‘2-Litre Six-Seater saloon’ on the Citroën stand. For the previous 21 years their staple offering had been the Traction Avant range.

Citroën had been working on their Voiture à Grande Diffusion (VGD) project since the 1930s. By 1950 the prototype was renamed ‘Projet D’ and in 1955, the DS was launched at the Paris Salon; by the end of that day Citroën had taken over 12,000 orders.

It was the DS styling that caused the initial sensation, for even in repose it looked like a basking shark.

Variations included The Safari

A beautiful coupe

And the most bizarre variant, The Reactor

The Reactor was a custom aluminum show car designed by Gene Winfield and completed in 1965. It was based on a 1956 Citroën DS chassis and powered by a Chevrolet Corvair engine. It gained fame when it was renamed The Jupiter 8 and appeared in Star-trek as well as being driven by Eartha Kitt in a Batman film.

I have featured the Citroen DS in my DI Sonny Russell crime novel, Blood on the Tide, when his French opposite number, Inspecteur Guillaume Bruissement has one on trial. I have also written one into Blood on the Strand, soon to be released.

Finally, a Tissier van was developed in the 1960s.

I've researched this wonderfully futuristic looking vehicle but can find very little information about it. If anyone can supply more details I'd be delighted, so please contact me.

Thursday, 1 November 2018

GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES

GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES

Kate, the landlady and boyfriend Bob

Following on from a post last month when I discussed the inspiration for the Shipwrights Arms in my novels, I paid a visit to 'Doris's' aka The Red Lion at Snargate, near Appledore. As it was October 31st, the theme was naturally, Halloween. My daughter, Saskia, made a spooky spider costume for Aggie and cleverly carved her likeness on a pumpkin.

Spooky spider Aggie

My effort was much simpler, inspired by Jack Skellington in Tim Burton's delightful, Nightmare before Christmas. And, despite stiff competition, it one first prize.

My winning pumpkin

All the entries.

The Goacher's bitter was rather too easy to drink and I'm afraid I celebrated rather too well.

Blood in the Garden

Supt Stout is desperate to improve his standing in the community by joining the prestigious Nottery golf club and, when two people connected with it go missing, he sees a matchless opportunity to improve his chances. He puts DI Sonny Russell, on the job - much to the officer’s disgust. Russell has more interesting conundrums: why hasn’t dependable WPC Nettie Sharp reported for duty? An antique dealer finds a body in the boot of his car. Whose is it? Is the suspect attempting a foolhardy escape? How much does an unhelpful landowner really know about his wife’s disappearance? As all the strands gradually untwist Russell manages to solve several mysteries - with a cocktail of shocks along the way.

Blood on the Dunes

A long-buried skeleton emerges from the shifting sands at Camber during a raging storm. A badly injured man is found in a derelict warehouse at Nottery. A mixed race boy goes missing from a children’s home in Peasmarsh. Could these seemingly random occurrences possibly be connected? At first, a puzzled DI Sonny Russell can see no link but, as more horrific events unfold, he begins to detect a troubling pattern. Blood on the Dunes is a story of fractured decisions, made years before, that come back to haunt those involved and others who were left to suffer the consequences.

Blood on the Cards

A travelling fair brings fun, laughter and excitement - but when one comes Nottery Quay it brings gruesome death too. The resident fortune teller is found with her throat cut in a damp and dirty WWII pillbox near the Royal Military Canal. The owner of the fairground comes under suspicion but, when a second body is found, DI Sonny Russell begins to have his doubts. Falling foul of his bombastic boss Superintendent Stout yet again, he is taken off the case and replaced by the bumbling duo Bonnie and Clyde. However, assisted by his French opposite number, Inspecteur Guillaume Bruissement, and his ever faithful sidekick DC Weeks, he pursues his own investigation. So begins a gripping tale which criss-crosses Sussex and Kent and ends in a thriller chase along the canal, with disastrous consequences...

BLOOD ON THE STRAND

BLOOD ON THE STRAND is a story of intrigue and drama, set on the sleepy south coast in the post-war mid-fifties.In a raging gale a heavy crate is washed up on the beach near Compass Point. DI Sonny Russell and his sidekick DS Johnny Weeks happen upon it while braving the weather near Sonny’s home. Puzzled, they go to get help to recover it, but when they return it has gone. So begins a thrilling and dangerous search for stolen Nazi plunder. It leads the detectives, ably assisted by an eager young policewoman, Nettie Sharpe, on a twisting trail that encompasses Hastings fisherman, their iconic net huts, ruthless foreign criminals and the shady side of antique dealing.

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